


Belonging and Rejection

by KillThemWithCandy



Series: The Path to Enlightenment [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:57:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14073363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillThemWithCandy/pseuds/KillThemWithCandy
Summary: A tale of Zenyatta's past with an odd lesson mixed in somewhere





	Belonging and Rejection

“We ain’t gonna let a couple of dirty omnics into our home. You get out out of here. No one wants your kind around here and I ain’t gonna take responsibility for you turning up dead!”

Zenyatta gave a small bow, “Of course. Thank you for your time.” He put a hand to Genji’s elbow and gently guided him away from the woman’s door, back out to the road to continue on their search for somewhere to stay for the night. 

“I don’t know how you stay so calm, Master.” Genji gritted out, “Faced with people so rude and ignorant.”

Zenyatta hummed. A few years prior and Genji’s anger could be linked to being called an omnic. Now his anger was because of a far more delicate topic. 

“We must see past the anger of others, my sparrow. We are vagabonds now, not monks, we must respect the ideals of those we ask the assistance of, even if we do not agree with them.”

Genji grumbled. He couldn’t stand when people rejected Zenyatta from their lives based on nothing but his body being made of metal. Zenyatta had changed his entire life for the better and if these people simply accepted him into their homes and hearts, they would be all the better for it. If his poor master had to carefully cover himself in a back alley to prevent rusting again, he might just break them into somewhere. 

“I can feel the anger rolling off you, Genji. Tell me your thoughts.”

Genji sighed and crossed his arms, a move he knew would tell Zenyatta he was annoyed, “These people judge you by your looks, they do not see the beautiful soul within you I have come to know and love. If they simply gave you a chance, I know you could change their lives for the better.”

Zenyatta laughed and nodded, “I cannot deny that I would attempt to open their eyes to our plight.”

“Exactly!” 

“May I tell you a story, my student?”

Genji nodded and fell into step beside Zenyatta, their footsteps melding together. Around them, street lights started coming on and house lights started turning off. 

“Many years ago, before the Shambali but after the Crisis, there was an omnic with no name or home. This omnic had a home once, but it was taken from it and it was forced to travel. It spent more time than it would admit to traveling, and often found itself captured and forced to work for those who had taken it.

“At one point, it found itself working for a rather large family. Three of the family’s seven children had found it while it was powered down to charge and brought it home. It was tasked with home and child care. It cleaned the three stories to the house it now lived in, as well as cared for all seven children, ages from four months to seventeen years.”

Genji whistled, “That is a lot of boning for one family.”

Zenyatta laughed and gently hit Genji on the shoulder, “I am trying to tell a story, Genji! I do not want to think of these parents being physically intimate!” He groaned, “You have seared the image into my optics! I will have to erase everything now, just reset myself entirely like a reused cell phone.”

They laughed together for a while before Zenyatta returned to his tale, “The omnic has been forced into work before, and typically it easily escaped its captors, but it was uncomfortable leaving children alone to parents who were clearly incapable of caring for them. It stayed and learned tasks the hard way, the family unwilling to update it. It learned mostly based on following tasks given to it by the elder siblings. 

“It learned a lot about the children. The eldest were almost exactly like their parents, harsh and stingy, believing the world and others owed them everything. The younger ones, however, were still curious about the world and often asked it questions. 

“‘Where are you from?’ They would ask. ‘How did you get here?’ ‘Do you feel things?’

“But most importantly, they often asked if the omnic was alive. Almost every day, they would ask if just as it was putting them to bed, a feat their siblings and parents could not manage. They would hold their stuffed toys and ask it night after night, ‘Are you alive, omnic? Do you wish you were human?’

“It never knew the answer to these questions. It found the definition of ‘alive’ was rather broad, and it knew nothing of wishes. It reflected on these questions for a long time. 

“Eventually, the elder children learned of its plight and, to its surprise, sat down and talked with it about them. It had no blood, but neither did a tree. It could become sick through viruses or misuse like other beings. It struggled to learn, it had preferences in things, it had memories and people it cared about. 

“It talked with these children for a long time on the subject. Eventually, the children all decided that, yes, it was alive. The way the children treated it changed, they were kinder to it, helped it learn new things. It found itself unhappy with this. Why would they treat it so unkindly if it were not alive, yet be kind if it were? Should they not be kind to all things? 

“Then, July twelfth came around and the omnic did not power on. When it awoke, it was outside on the road with the garbage.”

“What the fuck?” Genji shouted loud enough that a light came on in a house nearby, “Are you serious? One day and they just threw you away?” He threw his hands in the air, “Where is the lesson here? You gave them all they wanted and they still abandoned you!”

“Exactly.” Zenyatta guided them down another street, “Those who do not accept you will not. They may appear to, but some hearts are simply too closed. You will always be rejected from the hearts of those incapable of opening it to you. However, you cannot know if you will be accepted if you don’t try.” He walked with Genji to the large double doors of a Catholic Church, gently pulling them open so they could step inside. They met a priest just inside, who stood to greet them. 

“Zenyatta!” The man grinned and shook his hand, “It has been so long, my friend.”

“I would say too long, Father Martin. This is my friend, Genji. Would you allow us to rest here for the night?”

“Of course, of course! We have some charging pads in the back, I’ll get them for you.” Father Martin shook Genji’s hand and left. 

Zenyatta chuckled, “Sometimes, however, you find one you think would never accept you, and they become a close and beloved friend. Do not give up hope on those rude to you, my Genji, for they can grow to change and be someone you hold dear. After all,” they sat together in one of the back pews, “I believe when we first met, you held a sword to my neck.”


End file.
